Bhopal, April 11: Strong will of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation prevailed today when they forcefully removed the age-old illegal construction at the Bhopal Railway Station area. More than 150 shops and kiosks were removed in today's anti-encroachment drive of the BMC. To quell the opposition to the drive, the police had lathi charged mildly in which few were injured.

It was a pathetic scene outside the Bhopal Railway Station. The encroachment and illegal construction of small shops and kiosks are several years old. The BMC officials had tried to remove the encroachment earlier during the 'Ramzan' month of the Muslims. At that time, the BMC officials had to return empty handed due to intervention of local leaders and citizens.

Today's action was pre-planned. On Friday, BMC Commissioner Nikunj Shrivastava reached the spot accompanied by higher officials and enough policemen to face any opposition. First of all it was announced through mike that the encroachers were asked to remove their shops themselves within 10 minutes. When the order was ignored, the JCB machines of the BMC started to remove the shops etc forcefully. The BMC workers also started breaking the shops with their hands.

During the action, some people opposed but the police posse used mild lathi charge and kept the situation under control. After removal of the encroachment, the road is widened. The BMC plans to construct footpath at the place where the illegal shops were standing till now.